Almost Lover
by Liriell
Summary: Short Stories from about the most tragic love, the Scouts and Generals. First story is Mina: The tell of two people and a fated love story that was not to be. Instead of greatness, they just became what could have been. Almost Lovers.


Plot:

**Me:** I have started writing this story for a long time now. I have always been fascinated by the idea of the SenshixShitennou pairing. It was just so ... intriguing. I still remember how it all began. Just turning one page and suddenly, the whole world seemed upside down and in a whole new light^^ I guess most of you already know, it is that infamous cover of the Senshis and Shitennous as pairings! Suddenly, I was enchanted by that idea, of past lovers, entertwined love stories so similar yet so sad, separated by destiny and tied together by betrayal, death and love. It was incredible.

I also loved all those fictions about their love stories, but that was all that it was ever to me. Fanfictions. Dreams. Only that those dreams suddenly became canon reality, when I started watching SM Crystals (O.o) Yeah... - I will not start embarking on that path, because once I do, I will never stop rambling -

Anyway, I thought now is finally the time to publish this. It seemed kinda suiting.

**Song: _Almost Lover - A Fine Frenzy_** (Funny enough, the song was really inspirational when I started writing it. It rarely happens that a song can actually accompany on a story, but it did. It was just perfect. Try to listen to it while readon ;))

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><p>1. Chapter: Almost Lover<p>

Pretense was a wonderful thing.

For girls, who lived their days with two lives, this was no unfamiliar word.

A simple girl by daylight, pretty and simple, with no worries other than boys and shopping, and warrior princesses during the night, fighting for their lives and that of the world as they knew it.

They were the best friends, because they could trust each other, because they have no one but each other to turn to. They shared the same fate, they fought the same monsters, they shared the same power and the same mission. Those were their kindred spirits, soul sisters and most of all, they shared a fate no outsider would ever be able to comprehend, their past lives as princesses of a world that has long met its downfall, but still, it did not change the wondrous images they have had of that world that promised peace ... and _serenity_.

Nothing would ever be able to tear that friendship apart.

However, no matter how deep such friendship run, their love for each other, no matter how true and valued, there is no denying that despite all of this, despite all they shared, they harbored secrets, feelings that was solely theirs.

That was their right, to have secrets.

It was part of that secret was the beautiful smooth and slick surface they presented to the world with their beautiful smiling faces.

* * *

><p>"Do you think they know?" Serena asked, as she snuggled to her boyfriend, who had his arms draped around her shoulder. They had a lazy night, doing nothing but spending time together, cuddling and snuggling, with stolen kisses in-between, watching a movie they paid no attention and just dwelling in the fortune of their love.<p>

"What do you mean?"

"Well, do you think, in some way, that they know? About them?" Serena turned around, her eyes pointing to the door where she knew he kept a box that hid secrets from their past life.

"Serena..." Darien tried to make some kind of protest, his mind running through excuses he might be able to apply to cover the situation, but none of them seemed sufficient. None of them would ever be. Somewhere, once upon a time, he had wondered whether there would ever be any.

There could be no justification. There was no fairness in it all.

"Darien, I know. I am not stupid. I can sense their presence and although I have not looked at it,... I know and I remember," Serena whispered gently with a voice that made him fall for her over again. It was a voice lacking of prejudice and resentment.

"For how long?" Darien asked, resigning to the fact that he could not keep any secrets from his girlfriend.

"It does not matter," Serena replied. "It is all in the past."

Darien eyed the gorgeous angel underneath his arms, wondering whether she had said what he thought and wished and hoped she had said. He was not sure, because he had pretended and imagined it often enough to be unsure whether it was merely his imagination again or true reality.

"You forgive them?" he asked her.

She entangled her hands from his waist and rose up, just to throw her arms around his neck.

"Darien, I love you," she declared. "So, all I want is just for you to be happy... and safe of course." She laughed and planted a gentle, yet deeply loving kiss on his lips.

"I love you, too," he whispered, enjoying the gentleness that was his soul-mate. "But seriously, how long have you known?"

"The question is rather, if I know, do they as well...?"

Darien saw the worry in her eyes.

"You think they know?"

Indeed, he was quite aware of their predicament they called past.

"I think Mina knows."

"She does?"

Images, hints and small gestures and everything that would make it reasonable flashed in front of her crystalline blue eyes.

"Maybe Amy knows..." she whispered.

Of course, sweet smart Ami. A true Mercury at heart, blessed with a keen mind and incredible intelligence to be able to deduce it and yet, far too sweet to endure the pain it brought along with her.

If she knew, would she be who she was?

"Raye, perhaps she has seen it... it can be very possible, yet, it seems impossible. She is just so... temperamental-" Darien continued to listen. "If she knew... but she could, but if she did-"

The fiery warrior was surely temperamental as she was fragile, that was what Serena was trying to say. She did not have a heart of stone, as some people might like to believe. It was a heart surrounded by fire, impenetrable and impossible to reach. Guarded.

" Oh and Lita...-"

"Okay, Serena, stop!" Darien rubbed his temples. "You are confusing yourself and me along with it, you don't know." He wrapped his arms around her and pressed her to his chest to calm her down.

"It could be the truth."

"It can," Darien agreed.

"Maybe we should tell them?"

She looked up at him with her big blue eyes, the innocence of this world in her eyes and he groaned inwardly.

* * *

><p>Mina starred at the box and the four stones lying embedded within.<p>

"I wonder..." she whispered. She had no idea about stones. Ami was the smart one in the group, so how should she.

She shrugged.

For her, they were just small pretty assets of something she could not understand. She understood beauty, that was what she was good at. And love. At least she liked to believe that. No, that was not the truth either.

It was what she wanted the others to believe.

She had long given up on her naivety and she was not a hypocrite, a fool maybe, but at least she was honest to herself.

She stretched out her hand and grabbed just anyone.

Delicately, with her small fingers, she now gripped at the stone.

Worry and doubt filled her body, as she wondered what she was doing exactly.

Well, she could not go back anymore now either.

She was sitting at the desk, her head held by the cup of her hand, as she observed the stone and only when she held it up the light did she notice the dark violet color.

Of course.

"I was in a good place," Mina started whispered. "I was in a very good place, I grew up, I had a good childhood, sure my parents were never there, but compared to... I was happy, I am happy, I have friends, I have a normal life. I had..."

She quieted down, unsure how to continue farther.

"I knew... I knew, you know, somewhere... somehow. I think..." she whispered, looking at the stone between two fingers.

"Selene, what am I doing here?" she asked herself and chuckled, shaking her head at herself, wondering what she was doing. She was insane. She was mistaken. She was just a girl with a bad past ... and a broken heart.

She gulped.

She let go of the stone, as she placed it before her on the desk. She folded her hands together, as they rested on the desk, whilst her eyes still rested on the lifeless stone. Suddenly a vision of a mature, yet broken girl, so far from the one she presented to the world and the glimpses that Kunzite had caught of her.

"I met someone, a man and I think... this time, I really want to try. It might be good, on the other hand, it always starts like this, right? The promise, to yourself, to everything that might be good, but that is all it will ever be. It is hope cloaked in eternity. " she chuckled. "Maybe it won't either, but I will not know, until I try, that is at least what Serena had told me. Give it a try..." she bit her lip.

"He is a good guy, he seemed nice and... yeah of course, he is hot, but that should not be a surprise right?" Mina snickered and then she became quiet again. "You were handsome, too. Very actually, but I guess you already know that..."

Mina remained silent.

She was waiting for something. Right? It felt so.

But what was it that she could be possibly waiting for?

There was nothing.

Then why...

When there was nothing.

There was nothing left, she chuckled. She had gotten used to it.

"There is nothing wrong with it. Everyone is moving forward," she reasoned, as if trying to justify something, or someone. "Ami has her studies, which seems to fulfill her. She says is makes her happy, but whatever. Venusians live with their heart and Mercurians with settles. Raye has that Chad guy, who keeps worshipping the ground she walks on... literally and even Lita is moving on. Serena has Darien. Our lieges are happy, even Amara has Michelle! Everyone has their respective someone and I want that, too. I deserved that, I deserve to be happy!" she spoke, as her voice rose to higher volumes.

Mina took a deep breath.

"I deserve that. I deserve to be happy."

Mina lost herself in her thoughts, as she began to think about the past. She was trying not to think about him.

"Can you not just let me alone?" she asked, the question heavy in the air.

She let her fingers graze over the cold surface of the lifeless stone.

She thought about the times they talked, the secret walks they did not dare to admit they enjoyed and that one time it led them to dance in that field and the many kisses they sneaked, and the very last. She thought about the fights they have had, the deaths, the so many deaths, at his hands, her death, his, their death. Their fight. Their last fight...

And she had had thought that they could have been happy, truly happy.

"Almost..." she whispered.

She remembered how he had left and promised her that he would never forget that moment, as he had sealed their temporary goodbye with a kiss, only that the goodbye would last for centuries.

"I always forget," to remember and she wondered how she could remember to forget. She chuckled. She raised her folded hands to her mouth, pensive in her thoughts, when her mouth suddenly hit something cold.

It heart-shaped ring, carved of the same kind of stone that lied in front of her. Slowly, she unfolded her hands, slowly and carefully taking the small ring from her fourth finger, placing it next to the stone.

She took a deep breath and held it. She was afraid to break the moment. She had not remembered, how it looked, how she even had it.

Before she even realized, she choked on her breath, a sob escaped her lips.

Shocked by her own action and her lack of composure, she held her hand against her mouth, her eyes wide with remnants of heartache and tears and disappointment.

"Stupid... stupid!," she whispered, as she ran a hand through her hair, a vision desperation and lost. "What is that supposed to be?! Get yourself together! Why are you crying? Such a stupid girl."

She was shaking, she was taking a breaths and it was hard to tell whether she was crying or whether she was laughing, what was the best thing to do? She was not sure either.

"Selene... I hate you."

"Mina?"

With a gasp, she stood up and turned around.

"What are you doing here?" Serena asked puzzled. She was even more flabbergasted as she took in her best friend's appearance. Sure, she looked like her usual self, at least from her appearance and yet, it was shockingly... devastating. It was the way her eyes widened, the teary remains she thought she detected in her eyes, a slight tremble.

She looked lost and this was something Serena was not used from the leader of her Inner Court.

"Mina... is everything alright?" she asked her tentatively, taking slow small steps towards her.

"I- I am fine!" Mina stuttered. "I just... I - I gotta get out of here."

She barely gasped and fled out of the room, passing Serena by and the Princess could have sworn she saw something glittery fall down to the floor.

Stunned, she stood in the middle of the room, all alone and left behind, along with the sadness lingering in the air.

Like a magnetic pull, she walked towards the desk, where she had found her friend and her gaze was instantly caught by the items on the floor.

"Oh Mina..." she whispered.


End file.
